By Brielle Ballantine
OP-ED Editor

The fight over the legalization of marijuana has been one of the most controversial issues to occur within the United States. The growth of supporters for legalizing the herb has grown substantially according to a poll done by www.gallup.com. Results show that more than 50 percent of Americans want to legalize and support the prohibit use of marijuana.

Many Americans have already taken notice of the fact that our laws do nothing to reduce the use of marijuana, but instead they create a black market where gangs use violence to protect their income.

“It’s just one less thing on the black market,” junior Liz Schubert said. “If people could get [marijuana] anywhere, then there wouldn’t be a point in having to fight over it.”

While people who oppose the legalization argue that legalizing it would increase drug use, many who already want to use it are already doing so under ineffective laws. “People are going to smoke weed whether it’s legal or not,” junior Billy Gallagher stated.

If the government legalized marijuana, they could put high taxes on it, considering that people are used to buying it at a high price. It could be sold just like cigarettes and alcohol at convenient stores and could reel in high profits, which could benefit the economy.

The money the government would make from taxes could be put towards important things such as national debt or the reconstruction of our country’s economy.

“If it’s legalized, the government could sell it with age restrictions like they do with alcohol and tobacco,” Gallagher said. “Instead of the money people already spend on [marijuana] going to dealers, it would go into the economy.”

According to www.uri.edu, “An entire industry could be created out of hemp based products. The oils extracted from the seeds could be used for fuels and the hemp fiber, a fiber valued for its strength that it is used to judge the quality of other fibers, could be manufactured into ropes, clothing, or paper.”

The use of marijuana would not stir up crime, but yet reduce it considering that it would be taking away an important source from crime.

If the drug were to become legal, resources could stop being wasted by putting people in jail and save room for criminals who actually deserve to be there.

“It’s ridiculous how many people get locked up for smoking marijuana when there are killers and robbers that deserve to be in there more than the people that just wanted to smoke.” Schubert said.

Medicinal marijuana, which is legal to anyone who is prescribed it by a doctor, has been used as a medicine for thousands of years now in many countries.

According to Dr. Lester Grinspoon, author of “Marijuana: The Forbidden Medicine” “The only well confirmed negative effect of marijuana is caused by the smoke, which contains three times more tars and five times more carbon monoxide than tobacco. But even the heaviest marijuana smokers rarely use as much as an average tobacco smoker.”

Marijuana is less dangerous than most legal products in this country such as alcohol, cigarettes and some over the counter prescription drugs. For marijuana to be illegal in this country where alcohol, which kills thousands of people yearly, to be perfectly legal is absurd.

Someone who drinks excessive amounts of alcohol will experience impaired vision, the inability to stand or walk on their own and possibly death. Even though these symptoms only occur under huge amounts of alcohol consumption, the point is that smoking huge amounts of marijuana will do nothing more but make a person fall asleep, while alcohol can kill.

According to the Center for Disease Control, the number of deaths from excessive drinking is approximately 79,000 a year, but there has not been one reported case of death from smoking marijuana.

“Alcohol impairs your motor skills and vision and people tend to make worse mistakes while drunk,” sophomore Jordan Loveless said. “I know people who have drank themselves to death literally. The effects [alcohol] has on you long term are far worse than smoking weed.”

If the government were to act on making marijuana legal, we would see results practically over night. People suffering from diseases and illnesses could seek relief from the substance. The government could make billions of dollars from the taxes it would bring in, and the new demand for the product could make thousands of new jobs which in this economy, is vital.

If one substance can help ease and cure people who suffer illnesses, can help our country’s economy, and help end the war on drugs, then the legalization of marijuana seems needed in our country.